The Associated Press

BALTIMORE - Aaron Boone hit a disputed three-run homer in the ninth inning, lifting the New York Yankees to a bizarre 6-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night.

Boone's drive to left was initially called foul by third base umpire Jeff Nelson. After Boone came running across the field to protest and Yankees manager Joe Torre joined the argument, the umpires huddled together and reversed the call.

Orioles manager Mike Hargrove then came out to argue, and was ejected from the game.

Replays seemed to indicate the ball traveled well inside the foul pole.

Boone was 6-for-51 with the Yankees since arriving in a July 31 trade with Cincinnati before connecting off Jorge Julio (0-5). Alfonso Soriano added a solo shot for a 6-3 lead.

Jeff Nelson (4-2) got the victory despite giving up a tiebreaking RBI single to Larry Bigbie in the eighth.

Twins 9, Royals 2

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kenny Rogers gave up only two singles and one unearned run in eight superb innings, and Torii Hunter had a three-run home run to lead Minnesota past Kansas City.

Keeping the Royals off balance with breaking pitches and offspeed stuff, Rogers (10-6) was perfect through 4 1-3 innings before Joe Randa reached on third baseman Corey Koskie's throwing error.

The next batter, Mendy Lopez, dropped an RBI single into left-center. Angel Berroa had the only other hit, a single into left with one out in the sixth. The 15-year veteran walked one and struck out seven and reached the 10-win plateau for the 11th time in his career.

Koskie and Jacque Jones each had three hits for the Twins.

Indians, 1 Devil Rays 0

CLEVELAND - C.C. Sabathia had his best outing of the year, striking out a season-high nine and getting his first career shutout, and catcher Josh Bard hit a one-out RBI single off Travis Hafner (2-7) in the ninth inning to lead Cleveland over Tampa Bay.

Home plate umpire Dale Scott walked Toby Hall on three balls in the fifth inning. A replay showed that Hall fell to 0-2 in the count, fouled off several pitches and walked on ball three.

Sabathia (11-7) got more dominant as the game progressed, striking out the side in the eighth on 10 pitches and retiring 14 of his last 16 batters.

Victor Zambrano matched Sabathia through eight innings, allowing three hits and four walks and striking out seven.

Rangers 11, White Sox 5

ARLINGTON, Texas - Colby Lewis struck out a career-high 10 batters and Rafael Palmeiro drove in four runs as Texas beat Estaban Loaiza and Chicago.

Michael Young homered and drove in three runs as Texas sent Chicago to its third straight loss.

Lewis (6-7) allowed four runs and seven hits in a season-high 7 2-3 innings to win his second straight start.

Loaiza (15-6) came into Friday's game leading the AL with a 2.24 ERA. He allowed a season-high seven runs in five innings and had his four-game winning streak snapped.

Carl Everett went 1-for-4 with a homer in his return to Texas. The Rangers traded Everett to the White Sox for three minor leaguers on July 1.

He hit a two-run homer in the eighth off Mahay to bring Chicago within 8-5 - his 22nd of the season.

Angels 3, Tigers 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. - John Lackey pitched shutout ball into the ninth inning and Bengie Molina drove in two runs as Anaheim beat Detroit for the ninth straight time.

Lackey (8-11) allowed seven hits, including Bobby Higginson's 10th home run of the season leading off the ninth. It was the only baserunner that went past second base against the right-hander, who struck out seven and walked one in eight-plus innings. It was his first win in six starts since July 13.

Nate Cornejo (5-12) lost for the 10th time in 12 decisions over his last 17 starts. He allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings.

Spiezio, who hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the first inning, led off the fourth with a double and scored when Molina grounded into a force play. Molina added an RBI single in the eighth against Chris Mears for his 60th RBI.

Blue Jays 8, Athletics 5

OAKLAND, Calif. - Eric Hinske hit two home runs and matched his career high with four RBIs as Toronto defeated Oakland.

Chris Woodward also homered and drove in a pair of runs for the Blue Jays, who won their second straight.

Terrence Long and Erubiel Durazo homered for the A's, losers of three in a row.

Josh Towers (2-1) won as a starter for the first time since Aug. 17, 2001, at Boston when he was with the Baltimore Orioles. He lost his previous seven starts, two this year. Towers, a reliever before the All-Star break, allowed four runs on seven hits over five innings. He struck out one and didn't walk a batter.

Rookie Rich Harden (3-2) lost his second consecutive start, his worst outing in his brief major league career. He gave up six runs - matching what he allowed in his previous five starts combined - on eight hits with a pair of walks and six strikeouts.

Mariners 10, Red Sox 5

SEATTLE - Ichiro Suzuki hit his second grand slam of the season and Mark McLemore had two doubles and two singles in four at-bats as Seattle beat Boston.

Suzuki's sixth-inning homer off Mike Timlin (4-4) broke a 4-all tie and made a winner of reliever Julio Mateo (4-0), who got just one out but became the first Seattle pitcher since Joel Pineiro at the end of 2000 and start of 2001 to win his first four decisions.

Bret Boone added a solo home run, his 30th, to become the eighth Mariner to reach that mark. He also hit 37 in 2001.

The Red Sox loaded the bases with one out in the eighth against Armando Benitez. Todd Walker faced a full count and fouled off five strikes before walking, bringing in Manny Ramirez to make it 8-5 before Shigetoshi Hasegawa extingushed the threat.

Hasegawa pitched the ninth for his 12th save in 12 opportunities.